Dance of a Thousand Blades
by Unlimited Blade Quirks
Summary: Shirou Emiya thought he had seen it all, but with this new world, he didn't know what to think.With spirits by his side, becoming a hero in his mind, and getting back to those he left behind in his heart, he embarks on a new adventure. Rated T for safety and possible future violence. First Fanfic- Rewriting
1. Prolouge

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night, Seirei tsukai** **no blade dance, or any related materials, just the original plot ideas for this story. I make no money off of this.**

 **Please Enjoy**

It's body was made of blades.

This was an undeniable truth of the world, one that even "normal" people would hesitate to call fully human if they saw it in some of it's more vulnerable states. It gave itself to it's purpose, never wavering, and never regretting. All for the sake of seeing a dream again, one person who was like an illusion, always far away. Only if the sword chased endlessly, and one waited eternally, would they meet again.

But for the sword, no price it had to pay was too small.

For the Sword, all the evil in the world was nothing compared to her smiling face.

For the Sword, it's dreams would be realized.

The Sword could not give up.

For his will was **Unlimited**

His body was steadfast as a **Blade**

He would continue to spread his **Works**

The Blades name was Shirou Emiya.

How long had it been since he had seen her face, his Saber? There were nights where he could do nothing but think back on his time with her, remembering the moment that he realized he loved her, the moment she admitted the same, before disappearing into the mist of early morning. "So, It's been 12 years, huh, Saber." said Shirou as he sat up, gently stretching his stiff muscles.

He was currently in his shed, the place where he first met that ephemeral dream. He muttered **Trace** , **On** as he got to his feet, calmly producing a familiar black blade, the weight comforting in his rough hands. He admired the sword, reflecting on its craftsmanship,but more importantly, where he got it."Archer…"

Archer was the man's alternative future self, a possibility that he had met in the event known as the **Fifth Holy Grail War** , a bloody conflict between seven mages and seven servants, powerful heroic spirits from legend, to claim the Holy Grail and the wish that the owner was permitted to make upon the omnipotent chalice. Shirou himself had participated in the battle unwittingly as a master, his summoned servant being the great hero **Arturia Pendragon,** King Arthur, The legendary King of Knights.

This was also the woman who he would fall in love with for the rest of his days, striving to accomplish his ideals in hopes that he would meet her again one day.

Which brings us back to the matter of Archer. Shirou had spent countless days pondering the meaning of the strange red knight, Wondering why the mere thought of him was enough to make his blood boil. That was until he had looked in the mirror 10 years later. He was now the spitting image of that man, and with the revelation of Archer's identity came something else, The **Unlimited Blade Works.**

As Shirou shook himself from his reverie, he dispelled Kansho and focused himself.

"I've been too preoccupied with the past lately" he muttered quietly to himself, already on the way out the door.

It was a quiet, moonlit evening with a peaceful wind blowing from the west. It would be quite some time before Shirou Emiya felt that breeze again.

The shadow breathed, it knew what was coming. What it could have been was no longer enough. The chaos seethed, seemingly with new vigor. The shadow knew that it had not the time. It needed to awaken, but it first needed a vessel, someone who could fill the assigned role regardless of the circumstances.

A **Demon King** would soon be born, whether they wanted to be or not.

Shirou walked into the cold night air, appearing reminiscent of a certain red knight. Even as he thought of the irony of his attire, he continued to walk towards the objective of tonight's outing, the holy grail system. The system itself was contained in a cave far under Ryuudou Temple on Mount Enzo, so he had to travel on foot to reach there at all. The mission objective was to observe the strange fluctuations detected in the city's ley lines originating from this point.

As Shirou exited the trees, he saw the cave mouth, dark and ominous. Standing nearby was a familiar face."It's been a while, Rin" Rin Tohsaka, someone who Shirou had a history with, even having started a relationship that had gone on for the last decade. "It took you long enough, idiot" said Rin, sighing exasperatedly. Thier relationship was somewhat strained, as he had someone else in his heart, but that had certainly not stopped Rin from blatantly declaring that they were going to date,regardless of what he said, after she had lost her temper while observing his "suicidal" tendencies of course. But she was clearly exaggerating, he wasn't that bad.

"Everyone else is already inside, surveying the site" she said,narrowing her eyes at him accusingly."What could have possibly have taken so long for you to be this late?" At her accusation, Shirou rubbed the back of his head and smiled awkwardly at her "Well I kind of dozed off there for a while…" he stated weakly, having no other real excuse but the truth.

Rin looked at him, and then looked to the side and sighed. "You always pick the worst possible times to overwork yourself." she said, appearing somewhat dejected. She then whipped around, facing the cave mouth "Well then, let's go, no more time to waste." she said, already having set off into the cavern."Haaah….what I do for that girl…" sighed Shirou as he hurried after her.

The shadow felt something **shift** , as if the world itself had a violent convulsion, it felt the very fabric of the world break apart as portions of it were rewritten, reinterpreted, somehow...remade.

The shadow reached out with it's mind, sifting through the information available to it…..

" **I desire the death of the Elemental Lords"**

A desire that should not have come to pass, for the entity that held that wish had not yet come to exist. The shadow considered this, for the briefest of moments, and had no answer to give involving the reason for the occurrence. As the shadow was HERE there was no way that it could be THERE.

Yet, fate is ever fickle,it twists and turns according to it's own will, ensuring that some events will come to pass, regardless of the measures other things may take to divert the course of destiny. This was not one of the works of FATE. For surely, thought the shadow, this feeling of familiarity could only be called NIGHT.

The girl breathed hard,having broken into a cold sweat, feelings not her own flowing through her body like electricity. She had felt something inherently **wrong** about the world while she slept, as if nature and the world itself had been rebelling against something for a split second, trying to prevent **something** from coming. Then suddenly everything had quieted down, as if nothing of notice had taken place whatsoever.

She knew something was wrong, terribly so, so Restia faded from view in a rain of black feathers.

Shirou and Rin entered the large central cavern after several minutes of walking while exchanging mild banter. The path opened up into a large cavern that could be said to be about 50 meters in diameter,all of which was covered in the ridiculous amount of magic circles that made up the holy grail system.

The cavern was dimly lit, light provided only by magical lights carried by some of the approximate 20 individuals already in the room.

These were the Enforcers, the Mages Association's strike force and private field team. Composed of mainly combat oriented mages, the enforcers were the worst nightmare of sealing designates and were charged with hunting dead apostles and enforcing the laws of magic. Like the first law "Maintain the secrecy of magic at any cost." In this case, the "at any cost" bit was the complete and utter destruction of everything related to the infraction, friends, family, your home, even your pets. The rule was that if you reveal anything, everyone you knew would perish.

Of course, that was not the objective for this particular venture.A single squad of enforcers had been assigned to survey the remnants of the "highly dangerous" holy grail. ' _The Mage Association seems to at least be taking this particular mission seriously_ ', Shirou thought. In the past the Association had been all but deaf to attempts to investigate the grail. The reason for this was because at the Clocktower, the MA headquarters, it was thought of as just "a small ritual carried out by the novices in the far east."

This all changed however, when they started detecting an extremely powerful wave of prana running throughout the land lines of the entire world, all originating from this point.

As they approached, they were hailed by a man standing near the center of the cavern.

"Glad that the both of you could finally make it" said the man, speaking with an air of impatience. "Sorry to have kept you waiting, Lord El-Melloi II" uttered Rin , tone neutral, face impassive. Lord El-Melloi II was a tall man of European descent that wore dark clothing coupled with a red cloth hanging around his neck and was quite imposing with his long dark hair and constant scowl.

"Well now that you are here, what do you make of this?" said El-Melloi, gesturing to the circle. It was a massive, incredibly complex circle that pulsed with an ethereal purple light that,somehow, seemed almost alive in the way it softly pulsed.

"I say that it should be impossible." said Rin, still expressing detachment in her tone. "The Grail should have long ago lost all traces of mana within, much less still be processing and cycling it after we dismantled the majority of the system two years ago."

"I would agree, were the evidence not under my feet at this very moment" said El-Melloi "It just shows how much trouble you Japanese can be."

"Why you…" started Rin, her mask finally cracking at her annoyance with the man in front of her. You wouldn't think it from the way the woman looked, dressed in a red coat, blouse, and skirt combo, being of medium height with bright blue eyes and shoulder length black hair; But after all this time, Rin was still just as much of a tsundere as ever.

"Now Rin, don't incapacitate the nice lord who sponsored you." chided Shirou as he stood to the side, watching the conversation unfold. Rin shot him a dirty look,before huffing and looking at El-Melloi "Well,have you found anything useful yet?" she asked, suppressing her inner anguish.

"Why yes, actually" said El-Melloi, looking as sour as ever."We have discovered that there is a consistent flow of mana coming from within the grail itself and leaking into the surrounding ley lines." He stated; tone serious. This revelation brought scowls to the faces of both Rin and Shirou, both quietly considering the possibilities. "If the grail is reactivating…." said Shirou in a grave manner, stepping forward to get a closer look and examine the circle.

 **I desire the death of the Elemental Lords….**

Suddenly the circle flashed violently, light pouring from the ground in droves.

"What?!" exclaimed Shirou as the ground around him fractured, a familiar black, mud like substance frothing forth from the fissures. "SHIROU!" yelled Rin who had somehow gotten far away, or was it far above? He felt himself loose all sense of weight, as if the world had bent, twisted, split apart at the seams.

He felt himself fall and felt an entirely new sort of scent, a stinging, foul odor that reminded him of madness. As he fell he thought he heard a voice call to him once more.

But all had faded to black.

The shadow sensed a distortion between the planes. Some sort of interference between the domain of humans and Astral Zero. As the shadow searched, it felt the build up of energy, the **enemy** was hunting, most likely having sensed the same distortion.

As it came near, Light pierced the eternal darkness.

In this place where the impossible had occurred, in this realm of nothing, light and dark connected. How long had it been? Moments?,Days?, Years?, or some incomprehensible fraction of eternity? Neither comprehended what the other was. One was lost and confused, what was in front of it was new and alien.

The other,however,saw the opportunity present. For when the **enemy** had drawn near, a radiance had permeated the nothing, briefly inviting the warmth the shadow had desired for so long. It knew that, somehow, this was the ideal form that it would use. It **WOULD** have this soul!

It was to be an absolute truth, divine providence that could not be rebuked. But changes would be needed, yes, as powerful as the shadow sensed this vessel already was, it was not quite suitable for the shadows needs. The shadows presence alone would already have changed the body much, but something new was needed, something extra. ' _Ah_ ' the shadow though, that would do nicely. As the shadow was in direct contact with the vessel, it had options that it had not had for millennia. So as the shadow entered his body, changing it in ways that it otherwise would not have, and impressing upon it the shadows will and very essence, Shirou Emiya dreamt of a black haired dark angel, deep blue eyes, and his other half, a women who still, even now, waited for him beyond time,endlessly.

With this, the wheel has begun to turn, the story unfolds, the world quivers.

 **For that day, the Demon King was born again.**

 **End of Chapter**

 **A/N- Hi everyone! Unlimited Blade Quirks here, and thanks for reading this. I thought that the premise for this story was pretty good, so I finally got around to writing it. There may be some people who don't know some of the nasuverse terms, so I'll tell you right now that you should look them up to fully enjoy this story. Sorry if there are any mistakes, first fic.**

 **Until next time, Read,Comment,Review, and have a nice day**

 **-Unlimited Blade Quirks**


	2. Welcome, Oh Chosen Soul

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, the rights of Fate/stay night belong to Type/Moon and the rights of Seirei tsukai no blade dance belong to Yū Shimizu.**

 **Please Enjoy**

 **Chapter 1- Welcome, Oh Chosen Soul**

The shadow would soon sleep. Nestled inside of it's new host, it finalized the changes that it had made in order to be more compatible with the vessel. It had found difficulty when the strange light from before had repulsed it, sent it away from the vessel, into the **nowhere that was warm** , it was not an unpleasant feeling for the shadow, for it craved anything that was not of this prison, where it had dwelt for millennia.

But the shadow had persevered, and eventually the light had acquiesced, seemingly out of energy. When the shadow had entered, it found places in the body where it could not go, strange portions where the **body was of steel.** It searched and found quite an interesting place,but it would not yet go there, it was not ready to contend with the vessel's power.

Eventually,the shadow was able to sympathize the vessel with itself, itself with the vessel. The shadow changed the body as it saw fit, twisting flesh, merging shadow with bone. Likewise, the shadow felt itself become something greater, for **steel** invaded darkness, and **fire** envigored the night.

The shadow saw blades, swords without peer and without end. Shirou saw the gentle beauty of night, the peacefulness that was both the sign of death and the sign of new life. As the blinding light of dawn came forth, and the sounds of humans drew near. The two thought as one, and then, the shadow slept.

Shirou opened his eyes. His entire body was numb, his mind was foggy and he felt as if he had been forced to run a few marathons. So he promptly shut his eyes for several more minutes, letting himself rest for a few seconds. He remembered…..walking to the cave and seeing Rin. He tried to remember what had happened after that but _'up..down….sideways….knee socks…'_ didn't make much sense to you either, did it?

Shirou opened his eyes once more, quietly running prana through his body, heating up his circuits to speed his recovery, only to nearly choke as instead of his 27 magic circuits flaring to life, he quickly lost count of the number of circuits cycling an un-godly amount of prana through his body. He quickly sat up to survey his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was the fact the he was alone in an alley, voices coming from the street that he automatically categorized as possible enemies. As his mind became fully aware, he realized he felt...short. He looked around, seeing now that the walls on either side of him were abnormally tall. Then, he notice that his hair was down to his shoulders and quite a conspicuous shade of auburn.

"Excuse me, are you alright?" heard Shirou from behind him, quickly spinning around to face the speaker.

' _He's cute, gotta give him that'_ thought Restia as she faced the diminutive male in front of her. He looked to be about 6 years old and had shoulder length red hair and appeared quite feminine, even for a child his age. The only thing that could be called abnormal about the child was the sort of strange _understanding_ in his eyes as he whirled around to face her. His eyes were a deep, mesmerizing golden color, that she could have stared into for hours and still not comprehended the strange wisdom they seemed to carry.

She had come to this town in order to find the **force** that she had felt earlier, but the presence was all but gone, she had trouble tracking down the wrongness, and could not find it. Instead, she sensed a power that was all too familiar, and followed it to this child in front of her.

She saw him take a breath, and was suprised as a startled expression came into view on the child's face. Suddenly the child disappeared, causing Restia to blink in confusion, only to have the youth spring towards her from the side after ricocheting off the wall. As he seemed to attempt something, she easily appeared to his side, kneeing him in the stomach.

"That's no way to treat a kind, generous lady who was offering her help, now is it, little boy." she stated in a chiding tone of voice that gave off an air of amusement.

After all, this was her future master.

Shirou choughed, pain running through his body. He still felt the power running through him, but it would seem, at the girl had said, that he was but a child now. He felt muscle in his arms and legs, but also a new sort of 'immature' softness to them. It would seem that, for the moment, his reinforcement would be of no use. His body was just too different and he had no time to familiarize himself with it with structural analysis right now.

The reason he had jumped into action just then had been a spur of the moment reflex brought upon by years of conflict against inhuman entities. Her distinctive 'scent', something that reminded him of a clear, moonlit night, had caused him to panic. He was currently in a less than advantageous condition, so he decided to play it safe.

"Sorry, thought you were an inhuman monster." said Shirou, not realising the self-damnation of his own words. After a few moments of groveling and a fist to the head later, the conversation picked back up.

"So, what's your name?" asked the lady, a curious expression on her face.

Rubbing his head gently, Shirou said "Shirou, Shirou Emiya, and again, sorry about earlier."

"It's no issue, just remember to compliment young women in the future, Shirou." replied the women, with a smile that may have been just a _bit_ too sweet.

While internally shivering from remembering some of the legendary too sweet smiles that he had been subject to, Shirou considered the young woman before him, she clearly was not human, if the massive amount of prana she was exuding was a tell tale sign.

"Oh, where are my manners, My name is **Restia Ashdoll** " said the woman, now identified as Restia. Shirou didn't know why, but the name sounded oddly familiar, like a memory that he had just thought of in passing that he had completely forgotten about long ago.

"Well then, Shirou, pleased to make your acquaintance, let's get to know one another."

The mentors of the Instructional School were quite surprised to find that the spirit that they had come into contact with in their search for the new Demon King had not only left the complex without their knowledge, but had brought a child back with her to be tested as a potential candidate. What was even more surprising was the test that would be conducted.

Shirou was confused to say the least. The world just didn't feel right to him, everything was just too rich in magical energy. Even the people here had a certain….radiance to them that nobody did back home. Now that he examined himself more closely, he noticed that things seemed **different** somehow, as if something had drastically changed and he didn't seem to notice. When he used structural analysis, he only noticed that his magical potential had increased massively, as if his count of magic circuits had increased. This boggled his mind, as such a thing was unheard of, anywhere. He found it difficult at first to control, but the magic seemed to be much easier to handle once he had familiarized himself with the power increase and overall structure.

Aside from his own abnormality, there was the matter of the girl, Restia. She seemed to be rather kind, and he couldn't keep himself from liking her. He sensed no malicious intent from her, so he had decided to put his faith in her for the moment. Which was why they were now in this so called "Instructional School".

He thought it was suspicious, with all the children in the facility, but he decided to withhold judgment until he found proof of their misconduct. When they had arrived, Restia had told him to wait in a sort of central room where the different branches of the complex connected. As he waited, he caught sight of a small, grey haired girl sitting on the other side of the room. She seemed lonely.

Now this would normally have been ignored, unless the person was the type to express unconditional kindness. Luckily, not only was he such a person, he was Shirou Emiya, the foolish boy who wanted to be a hero of him, it was impossible to ignore someone who needed saving. "Excuse me, are you alright" he asked, parroting Restia earlier in the day, as he approached the girl. The girl did not respond, seemingly not hearing him. Shirou decided to press on, something told him that this girl **needed** his help.

"My name is Shirou Emiya, what's yours?" he continued, trying to get through to the young girl. She finally turned to him, a cold, forlorn look in her eyes.

"Why does it matter?" she responded in an even monotone, completely devoid of warmth. "Well how can we become friends if I don't even know your name?" Shirou replied with a frown,alright, now he was worried for the girls mental health, he **had** to help her.

"I have no need for 'friends'." she stated in a dejected tone, missing any sort of positive inflection. " Well then, you have no problem with an older brother, do you?" said Shirou, voice filled with kindness and determination. She looked at him, blinking several times,looking utterly incredulous.

He had heard that tone before, when he had first met his own 'little' sister, Illya, for the first time and had tried to reason with her while she was still under the impression that Kiritsugu had abandoned her in favor of him. It was the tone used by those who had given up hope and were about to give into despairing madness.

"So, I'll ask again, what's your name?" Shirou said gently. This time the girl responded quietly, still looking as if she had been stricken. "Muir, Muir Alenstarl" she whispered.

"Nice to meet you, Muir." said Shirou, who was now softly rubbing Muir's head, trying to be as comforting as possible.

They just sat there, being each other's company until Restia returned and told Shirou to follow her.

Shirou whispered "I'll see you soon, Muir" as he walked to Restia's side.

He was not present to hear the words "See you soon, Onii-Sama..." being uttered by the young girl who was staring at his departing form with wide eyes.

"So let me see if I've got this, you want me to contract with you?" stated Shirou in a questioning tone. He was currently on a raised platform in a large, open room. There were the so called "Instructors" off to the side, observing the proceedings.

"Yes,well, actually, it's more to see if you in fact even **can** contract with me to be honest" said Restia, standing directly in front of Shirou, eyes gleaming with mischievous intent.

She had brought him into this room straight away after fetching him from the central chamber. It seemed that he had to contract with her to prove he was an 'Elementalist' or some such. He had no idea where he was, what was going on, or even who was good and evil. But the two things he could be sure of were,somehow, he could trust Restia, and that he would continue to help people, it didn't matter where he was, he would become a hero of was the only way he would see Saber again after all.

"Alright then, but what do you mean by contracting?" Shirou asked, confused by the term. Would it be like the system that would be used to contract with servants via a master-servant pact?

"All you have to do is take my hand and say the words that come to mind." Said Restia, offering her hand and looking at him with a gentle smile.

"All right…." said Shirou reluctantly as he reached towards her and put his small hand in her palm. He immediately felt words spring to the forefront of his mind, his mouth began to move without him being fully conscious of what he was doing, as if he was only half acting out the actions.

Words fell from his lips unbidden, possessing a force all their own.

" **Oh passionate lady of darkness, limitless essence of true night,**

 **you will be mine, to command,to use,to save.**

 **You will defy fate to stay by my side,**

 **and I will be worthy of any praise.**

 **My body of cold steel shall be thy master.**

 **Thrice I command thee,**

 **Exchange vows with me."**

As Shirou finished the incantation, Restia leaned down and **kissed** him of all things, instantly snapping him out of his reverie. Shirou felt as foreign, but somehow familiar, tendrils of energy lanced through his body in an all encompassing wave, leaving a feeling of warmth and gentle elegance _"Like a peacefully dark room"_ he thought, as it all came together all at once on the back of his hand.

When the feeling had faded and Restia had pulled away, he fell down with a look of shock on his face as he gazed down at the purple half-moon spirit brand now located on the back of his left hand.

Just then, Restia spoke, capturing his attention. "Congratulations, _Master_ on contracting with me." She said as she smirked devilishly.

Then the man who seemed to be the speaker for the spectators spoke up. "You have proven your legitimacy, we will train him, spirit." Then as one, each of them turned to face Shirou, and spoke in time with one another with practiced formality, giving an almost eerie sense of oneness.

"Welcome, oh chosen soul, we recognize your feat,and with it, the prophecy is fulfilled, we are pleased to make your acquaintance, **Demon King."**

Shirou was starting to suspect that he had made a terrible mistake.

"Yes" said Restia "Welcome to your new home." she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

Yep, definitely a mistake.

 **Chapter End**

 **A/N- Hey guys! I'm back again quite soon. The feedback that I've received so far has been just fantastic, so here is the next chapter sooner than originally planned! In the reviews, it was mentioned that I should not forget Saber, and worry not, this Shirou will not drop her at any time in my story, long live the Avalon pairing! But I make no promises as to Shirou gaining an unwanted harem. XD Also, the 'shadow' will most definitely not be a heroine, so don't sweat it.**

 **Till next time**

 **-Unlimited Blade Quirks**

 **Re- I fixed the magic circuit blunder, no specifics, but should put some of the ridiculousness to rest.**


	3. The Meaning of Justice

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, the rights go to Type/Moon for Fate and Yū Shimizu for Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance.**

 **Please Enjoy**

 **Chapter 2- The Meaning of Justice**

Shirou dreamt of swords. It was not the first time this had happened, in fact, this dream was a regular occurrence for him. This dream took place within all that he was. Past, present, and future, these blades were and would always be the proof that affirmed his oath.

There was someone waiting for him, and he was not one to break such a promise.

But before he could meet Saber again, he had to fulfill his dream.

He had to become a hero of justice.

An ideal that was forever far away, an impossible dream that could not come true. But he would chase that ideal all the same, as this was the one thing that Shirou Emiya was passionate about. He thought that the ideal was beautiful, and he wanted a world where no one had to cry.

 ***Scene Break***

How long had it been? He asked himself on that hill of swords, gazing at the blades that were ready and waiting. How long had it been since he had made those promises, to both uphold his father's dream and to chase endlessly to find his love? The truth was, he had been counting the days until he fulfilled his dream, the days before he met Saber again. It grew lonesome, sitting on a solitary hill of swords, but he had the comfort of memories and a certain tsundere magus at his side to allay those fears, to stifle the loneliness. But as of late, he had found that it became harder to assuage those feelings as there was no one to support him anymore. He was well and truly alone on a hill of swords.

He thought back to the day he devoted himself to his ideal. Then, and still, even now, he thought that the ideal was beautiful. The thought of a world where no one had to cry was utterly entrancing. Even as he repeated the same hypocrisies a million times, he did not waver in this belief. It was no longer a question of whether to save the many or save the few, but a conundrum of how to save everyone in the most efficient way possible.

How was he supposed to fulfill his goal in these new circumstances? He didn't know, but he would still save people, just like he was saved so long ago.

 ***Scene Break***

Shirou opened his eyes. The hill of swords now but an afterthought, he quickly got out of bed and got dressed. His attire consisted of a black short-sleeved tunic, a pair of ragged trousers, and thick, efficient brown boots.

Over the course of the 3 years that he had been in the Instructional School, his appearance had changed much, but not in the way he had been expecting. While his rugged red hair was short now, he had to constantly monitor it to keep it that way. Since arriving in this world, his body had been increasingly uncooperative, there were times when his magic would grow out of control and lash out indiscriminately at anything nearby via random explosions of power, and yet other times when his body behaved in odd ways, like hair growing faster or sudden pains in the midsection.

He had also found it difficult to use any magecraft beyond reinforcement and structural grasp. It had to do with the flow of what his trainers had called "divine power", a strange flow of energy that had been flowing throughout his body separately from his magic circuits ever since he had awoken. That was not to say that it was detrimental to him in any way physically, but the divine nature of the energy muddled and suppressed prana whenever he had generated it from his od. Of course, this was only some of the time as he had learned the proper technique for controlling and channeling the power, there were even times he had managed to use them both at once without either taking away from the other, it just seemed to be a matter of how he shaped the power before deploying it.

He looked around his assigned quarters. A dark, musty room that had obviously been neglected for some time, just like every other room that was given to the 'students' of this place. All there was in the way of furnishing was his cot and a dresser to his left. This was the room that he had been assigned to live in for the duration of the time he was here. The Instructional School, as he had found out, was an underground organization that focused on training children to become elite, emotionless assassins meant for espionage and the like. They also had the (supposedly secret) goal of reviving the Demon King as they were initially born out of the Alphas Theocracy that worshiped the Demon King Solomon from a thousand years ago.

As Shirou had learned more of his situation, shortly after awakening, he had come to the conclusion that he had been thrust into a parallel world in some corner of the Kaleidoscope. How it had happened he could still not recall, but the plain and simple truth of the matter was that he had been thrust into the great and unknown expanse that only Zelretch himself had experienced up to now. It still baffled him as to how he had come to learn about his new environment from Restia, a girl whom he had no connection with prior to their first meeting, yet had been a steadfast companion to him for every moment since. She had stayed by his side at every given moment since the evening the 'contract' had been established 3 years prior.

 ***Scene Break***

*Flashback*

Shirou looked up at Restia's face, panic surging through him as the implications of what had taken place began to assault his mind. The girl was not human, as he had already established. But she did not seem like a dead apostle either, and he had killed quite a few of those since the Grail War. She moved inhumanly and possessed enough mana to put even a magus like Rin to shame, and this 'pact' was most certainly an important component of the equation. The only powerful being that he knew of like that was...a Servant? No, not possible, while Restia was definitely powerful, she didn't inspire the same sort of awe and terror that figures like Saber, Lancer, and Berserker did in him. She was not a Servant, but she seemed to be some sort of spirit if the flow of mana in the air naturally circulating about her was any indication, now that he thought about it.

As Shirou managed to quickly reign in his rampant thoughts, Restia stepped towards him, completely nonthreatening and seemingly unworried.

" _Alright Shirou,"_ he thought to himself _, "They think you're a six-year-old, you need to sell them on your innocence and ignorance….why couldn't it have been Rin?"_ He silently whined to himself as he considered his famous inability to lie.

"Well then Shirou, let me properly explain to you just what is going on." Said Restia, now crouched down next to him and appearing utterly relaxed.

"Well to answer your first question, I am now officially your contracted spirit, and as you are able to form said contract, you have proven that you are the heir of the Demon King of legend from a thousand years ago." Said Restia, shocking Shirou.

"Who's the Demon King?" Shirou suddenly blurted out, too shocked by the incredulous revelation to be completely in control of his vocal chords.

Restia looked at him dubiously for a second, and then sighed in a fashion that reminded him of a mother chiding the ignorance of her child. _"That just might be how she sees this at the moment….."_ He thought for a second as he recovered himself.

"I can't believe that your parents wouldn't have told you all the stories of the "Evil Demon King that conquered the entire continent" to keep you good as most do in the modern age" Restia said as she mock sighed, shaking her head from side to side. "Well, to sum it up, the Demon King Solomon was a terrifyingly powerful Elementalist who could contract with spirits despite being male, and had used a collection of 72 of the most powerful spirits in the world to subjugate the entire continent and ensnare the world in his grasp." She said, looking at him the entire time she was speaking, her eyes searching, never leaving his for a moment.

"You are the reborn Demon King, Shirou, and your training to fulfill the part begins tomorrow." She said, an unknown emotion filling her eyes.

"But worry not, I will always be by your side." Declared Restia, the emotion from before being swallowed up from…..adoration?

Oh boy, this was going to be tough.

*Flashback End*

 ***Scene Break***

Now, you may be wondering, why would someone who wanted to be a hero of justice such as Shirou Emiya continue to involve himself with an organization like the Instructional School? The answer to the question is quite simple actually, the reason that he would willingly cooperate with people who trained orphans to become elite assassins is that there are people to be saved in such a place, people like a certain gray-haired younger sister type character. Shirou quickly finished his preparations for the day and exited his room after ensuring his bounded field, a haphazard working that he had fashioned with runecraft, was still functioning, it tended to act up from time to time and endanger his oh so precious privacy. He had been sure to keep his magecraft a complete secret from any possible prying eyes, and as a result, he suspected, he had not yet been ousted as someone much more versatile than should have been possible. His time at the School had not been the most pleasant.

There were times when he had lost track of who he was in the extremely intense training that they subjected him to. He was currently ranked first out of all pupils and was because he was considered the strongest, even though he had absolutely zero completed missions to his name. Though this was not surprising, as for the last 3 years, there had been a mysterious masked individual interfering with every mission that any assassin from the Institute had been given, resulting in the subsequent failure of all of them. It had taken all the organization had just to continuously evade the authorities from each of the different countries that it had had operations in.

This constant string of failures had also given the School a certain…..reputation, to the point where no possible employers would even have given the time of day and the Theocracy was sending less than complimenting "letters of motivation". These events, however, had only made it worse for Shirou. As the School had gone under due to lack of payment, they had focused all efforts on their 'last hope', the Demon King. This had resulted in Shirou's young body being subjected to training such as combat with all of the instructors and top ranked students at once in order to accelerate his progression. Due to this, he had to compensate for the lack of magecraft with something. Which had led to his newfound proficiency with Restia in the form known as an "Elemental Waffe" a type of weapon that contracted spirits could take on the form of if the Elementalist was of a high enough proficiency level.

As he had first gazed upon this form of Restia, his eyes had unraveled many things about her and added the blade to his armory, he could reproduce the weapon, but not the spirit providing it with its power, so the blade was much less effective than the real thing. He had not learned of her history, but, gazing on another in the form of a sword allowed him to understand them, understand them in ways that could not be quantified with mere words. It was an effect that allowed him to see into Restia's heart,and allowed him to behold all of the emotions that she had felt at that time. It had been a surprise to him to see so much…..love carried within the spirit's heart. It was from then on that he had willingly trusted Restia, instead of following some sort of prompting from within his own self that he did not quite understand.

The School had ingrained all sorts of skills into his psyche, skills that were completely inconceivable in his original world. He was forced to further develop his 'Battle Mode' into a completely emotionless state that he seemed to be far too susceptible to. He had also learned things like self-suggestion and **Meta Three-Dimensional Movement** among others. While paltry compared to some of the things that could be achieved with magecraft, these children were being taught skills that could hardly be called normal, and could even defeat some of the weaker mages he had known.

This was yet another reason that he had been growing to trust Restia a great deal more, as she had helped him come back to his senses after a particularly dangerous and traumatizing training session that had involved being tied down while unaware that the room you were in was filled with madness spirits and being told to wait until morning. It had taken Shirou three hours to realize just what the nature of the 'scent' was that he had been sensing, and by then he had already fallen into a state of depression remembering his exposure to all the evils in the world.

Restia had come to his aid immediately, and over the next few weeks, restored him to his normal self again. She had helped him to safeguard his human heart, to not become the cold emotionless sword that he was always in danger of becoming. She had proven herself to be of a good nature, so he had finally allowed himself to accept her as a pillar of support. Of course, the world was fickle, at times, it played cards of fate that were truly ironic. The act of helping him had gotten her sealed inside of a relic that had supposedly belonged to the Demon King. This made the new Demon King quite unhappy.

 ***Scene Break***

Restia floated in darkness. She had been sealed inside the Ring of Solomon, a powerful Ancient Artifact class item that could be used to seal high-level spirits such as herself. She had been a little…..too friendly with Shirou, and the School seemed to take offense to the supposed "Corruption of our last hope", not that they were doing a great job keeping him under control in the first place, seeing as he was the reason for their downfall. Him and his masked escapades, there were times when she could do nothing but giggle to herself as he snuck out of the compound during that first year, all for the sake of protecting others. The boy seemed to have an unreal amount of wisdom and skill for his age, and his place as the strongest in the institution was well deserved, considering he beat them all while holding back that is. It didn't hurt that he had shaped up over the last three years, although there were days when he either looked like a prime example of the male specimen or a graceful example of a beautiful teenage girl. She still could not tell how he pulled the latter off, as she sensed no magic afoot when it happened. She enjoyed the view of either appearance anyway.

If she was completely honest, she was head-over-heels in love with Shirou.(Cue Epic Spirit **HAREM** guffawing maniacally in interspace) She had not expected to be, but he was just so CUTE! She couldn't help but be attracted to him and couldn't possibly imagine anybody else attracting her attention.(In another part of the Kaleidoscope, a Restia suddenly tried to rip out her own liver, and one Kamito Kazehaya fell into depression and died a little bit as he started foaming at the mouth, Zelretch laughed.) But whenever she was too forward, Shirou seemed to get distant, as if remembering some ephemeral dream that he had seen and was attempting to relive.

Because of that, she had held off on the intense stuff, but she had laid plans for the future. That had all changed quite a bit when she had been sealed inside of the stupid ring. Now all she could do was worry about Shirou and float, so it was pretty boring. Why wouldn't something happen already!

She would regret those words about five minutes later.

*Scene Break*

As Shirou walked in the general direction of the Ring of Solomon, he ran into a very familiar gray-haired face.

"Onii-sama~!" yelled Muir as she quite literally ran into a suddenly very animate and flustered Shirou. She wrapped her arms around him in a very affectionate( **HAREM** snickers) hug that just so happens to (supposedly) completely inhibit his movement. The girl known as Muir Alenstarl had grown a bit in the last three years, but mostly her personality had done a complete 180 on itself. She was no longer the shy girl who called herself a monster and was afraid of being alone. She was now a monster that called herself a little sister and was very, **very** (another chuckle) affectionate to Shirou and quite hostile to everyone else, though she no longer killed everyone who annoyed her.(It had taken a lot of convincing on Shirou's part, and a week of sleeping in his room for some reason.)He had made sure of that. She was also one of the only people in this entire place that Shirou was truly acquainted with, most everyone else seemed to avoid him for obvious reasons. She had turned out a lot like Illya, actually, probably due to his constantly spoiling her, just, you know, a lot more stabby.

"Ah, Muir, how are you?" Said Shirou as he recomposed himself, having suddenly remembered the last time Muir had jumped him.(spirits should NOT have tentacles like that!)

"I'm fine! But more importantly, I have a present for Onii-sama!" Chirped Muir, enthusiasm dripping off of her as if a liquid substance as she grandiosely presented Shirou with the ring that he had been about to go steal.

Shirou rightfully blinked dumbly for a moment and did a spit-take.

"Th-That's…" he sputtered dumbly, looking at the ring with wide eyes.

"Muir saw you looking at it with an "I need to get that" face, so she got it for you!" She said as she swelled with pride and put her head forward. Shirou instinctively petted her head gently, causing Muir to sigh contentedly.

"I..I see." Said Shirou finally mastering himself and taking the ring from Muir's outstretched hands with his own. It gleamed silver in the light, strange runes and symbols covering it's face. He really had no idea how she had pulled it off, and he was pretty sure that he didn't want to know, but the fact of the matter was that she had just helped him save someone.

Shirou looked at Muir's face, which was looking at him in curiosity, and smiled at her with the most heartfelt and grateful smile that he was capable of producing. A smile that he was only able to make after he had saved someone, after he had come another step closer to his ideal.

"Thank you, Muir." he said simply, letting all of his happiness and gratitude leak into his voice. This had the immediate effect of making Muir redder than a tomato and set her to sputtering profusely.

"W-W-Why thank you, Onii-sama, Muir will just be heading out now!" she said as she was swiftly withdrawing from the encounter, leaving a smiling Shirou alone in a hallway in an underground facility run by underground assassins. He was Shirou Emiya after all.

"Now, what to do about this pesky seal." muttered Shirou as he gazed at the ring in the palm of his hand.

 ***Scene Break***

Feln was not having the best day. He had just recently been promoted to head of the Instructional School, and this was not good by any measure as the entire operation was failing. Now the Ring of Solomon had gone missing and he had no idea what to do! Perhaps if there had been any successful missions in the last few years he may have had some options, but that blasted masked hero always got in the way…..

Poor Feln, he didn't even get to finish his monologue before the entire wall of his office exploded inwards in a gout of flames. A moment later, a calm red-headed maiden carrying a rather large sword walked in through the hole and walked over his still corpse, exiting through his office door and continuing to set more things on fire.

 ***Scene Break***

Before Shirou could consider whether or not stabbing the ring would be a good idea, he heard shouts coming from all over saying things like, "Fire, fire, FIRE!","What's with all the noise?", and his own personal favorite "Seems like someone let Muir into the Elementalist's dormitories again, that girl and her **Jester's Vice**."

It seemed like there was a general panic coming from the direction of the Executives offices, and there was definitely smoke coming from the general area. That was when he noticed the **screams** , adult voices just as numerous as those of children as something lead to an incredibly painful and violent end. Before he knew it, he was racing towards the people, his mind focusing solely on the task at hand as he quickly slipped the ring into his pocket. He dashed around the corridor and down the hall, the low light of the hallway slowly giving way to the open space of the common area. The room was filled with rubble and smoke filled the air as scores of people raced to the exit, only to be cut down by a woman with red hair wearing what appeared to be a ceremonial kimono of some sort that showed off an ample amount of cleavage. Her eyes were calm, as if to further express that she was in no hurry to finish this, she showed nothing other than a cold sort of detachment from the situation. Had this been a casual encounter, Shirou might have noted that she was quite beautiful, or that her sword moved with careful grace and precision, or even that her eyes seemed to widen when he came into view and she ceased her attack.

But none of that mattered now. He swiftly divined the nature of her sword, **Laevateinn** , that was it's name. It was the elemental waffe of the strongest fire spirit short of the Elemental Lord in the form of a variable hand-and-a-half greatsword that could alter itself to suit its wielder's needs and had the power to produce flames hot enough to melt the immediate surroundings. It was here to serve its master, **Rubia Elstein** , in a search for something. Shirou saw that it had every intention of killing all witnesses unless told otherwise. That made his anger fester.

Shirou could not help but recall a fire of his past, the way that the room was illuminated in reds and oranges by the intense flames covering every given surface in the large area, the screams of the dying as they tried in vain to save themselves. He was going to end this, **now**.

 ***Scene Break***

Restia quite frankly had no idea what was going on. First, she had sensed Shirou's magical signature that indicated that he had come into possession of the ring, and then all of a sudden there was an all-encompassing, pervasive sense of overwhelming power. It felt as if she would choke on the intense killing intent that was so powerful that she could feel it even inside of her prison. Whatever was going on out there was obviously dangerous, and as she was at the moment, she was of absolutely no use to Shirou at all.

" _Gee, what a way to start the day"_ Restia thought sardonically. The only thing she could do was ruminate, and wait for what happened next.

 ***Scene Break***

Rubia was taken by surprise as the child she had caught sight of sped towards her at blinding speed, striking at her shoulder with stunning precision and force for one with such a small body. She smoothly deflected the blow, keeping the boy in her line of sight as she surveyed the sword that had appeared out of nowhere in his hand. It was a long, black blade that seemed to drink in the surrounding light, red around the edges with a sort of gray overtone about the entirety of the weapon. This must surely have been the **Vorpal Sword** , the blade of the Demon King, and the elemental waffe of a spirit that was quite important to her plans. This young boy must have been the new Demon King then. All the better, in her eyes, as it would allow her to accomplish multiple goals at once.

There was no more time to consider, however, as the boy made his next move. He swiftly moved at her, swiping from the left side to get past her guard quickly, she watched his enraged expression as she deftly dodged, seeing that he was angry at her for some inexplicable reason.

"You need to do better than that if you want to hurt me, boy." Rubia spoke down to the child, even though he appeared to be no more than two or three years younger than her. She said this just in time to feel a sharp pain on the right side of her torso, where the flat of the kid's blade had hit her and sent her stumbling back several steps. "Be careful who you criticize, Rubia Elstein, know that looks can be deceiving." Said the boy, barely restrained rage prevalent in his voice. While she took several more steps back and raised her guard as she caught her breath, the boy spoke again. "Why do this? What could you possibly have to gain from killing people?!" The boy yelled, some sort of emotional dam seemingly finally giving in to the rush of feelings that he was experiencing.

"I don't need to explain myself to you! How do you know who I am?!" Rubia yelled, having suddenly lost her composure to the surprise attack. The boy seemed to be somehow much more experienced than she had originally anticipated, but if she wanted to stop the Elemental Lords, she would have to make due. She just hoped that she could handle him, something told her that this would not be easy.

 ***Scene Break***

"I looked at you and knew who you were, any issue with that?! What I want to know is why you would needlessly endanger human lives!" Yelled Shirou, he had regained some measure of control over himself, no longer driven solely by anger. "My reasons are my own!" Yelled Rubia as she swung at his head in a rather skillful display of power.

" _She will swing for my shoulder and then deliver with a swift blow to the head with the flat of her blade."_ Predicted Shirou, easily dodging the incoming slash and deflecting the follow up. "You make your moves far too easy to read." Said Shirou as he studied his opponent, trying to figure her out as he was having second thoughts as to her actual malevolence.

"Stop dodging! It would be so much easier to talk this over if you would just go DOWN!" said Rubia as she aimed another blow at his ribcage in an effort to immobilize him. He deflected, and her next flurry of blows came forward, _'Left, right, down, left, parry!'_ Thought Shirou as he deflected each of Rubia's blows and knocked her sword to the side, completely out of range to do any sort of harm to him.

"Argh! Enough of this!" Screeched Rubia as she lept out of the path of his counter-slash, calling forth flames along the edge of her sword. " **Hell Flame!** " She exclaimed, chanting the name of the strongest offensive fire spirit magic.

"Onii-sama?" Called Muir from behind Shirou, at the edge of the common area and directly in the path of the spell. "Damnit!" Cursed Shirou as he quickly turned and ran for Muir, fire twisting after him in a raging inferno."Muir! Get down!" He yelled as he tackled her into the hallway, using **Thunderclap** to get to her before the fire reached the both of them. As the heat from the flames seared his back, Shirou looked Muir in the eyes and told her "Muir, I need to go and save those people, but it's not safe here, so I need you to run away and meet up with me later, alright?" He said in a serious tone. All Muir could do for a moment was blink as she processed what had just happened, and then she gave him a slight nod as she gazed at him with starry eyes. "You just saved Muir…" she muttered to him in a quiet voice. Shirou smiled at her for a moment and said "Now, what kind of hero of justice would I be if I didn't help my little sister?" And then he turned around, face grim, and ran back towards the battlefield. Muir, on the other hand, did as she was told, and ran.

Shirou faced the girl in front of him, no older than 13. She seemed to be frustrated that he had come back virtually unscathed, if a sword to the face was any indication. He calmly dodged her strikes, one after the other with an almost inhuman grace about his movements."Why won't you go down!" She huffed as she continued to attempt to slice him in two despite clearly not being serious. "My thoughts exactly." Said Shirou in a calm voice. "Why do any of this? What do you gain from the deaths of all these people?" He once more voiced in a questioning manner, lacking his former malice. As she took a swing at his leg, she said"I wouldn't expect you to understand, but I have to gain the necessary power in order to save many more people than just these pathetic excuses for human beings!" Shirou suddenly pushed forward, slipped past her guard, and delivered a clean strike to the side of her head."You fool! Human lives are far too precious to be treated so casually!" Yelled Shirou as he delivered another strike to her stomach with the pommel of his traced weapon. He had traced the Vorpal Sword without thinking, as Restia head been on his mind when this fight had begun.

Rubia fell down and stayed still for a moment, looking bewildered as to how he had so casually slipped through her guard. He held his blade to her throat, letting the fact that he could end it any moment sink in, eyes of molten gold gazing into blazing red in a silent exchange. He released his hold on her life, and got off of her."It is never right to end the lives of others, how can you save everybody by taking a life unless absolutely necessary?" Shirou questioned to both himself and the girl on the ground. He pondered the way she had, fought. Frustration, anguish, sorrow, overwhelming emotions had been what had fueled he sword, not a desire to kill. He looked at this girl who had tried to kill him, and then shortly later had attempted to pacify him in a violent manner. He looked into her pools of blazing flame, and saw the confusion and uncomprehending present. _'She is not one who seeks joy in killing.'_ he thought, the battle playing out once more in his mind. She had not been fighting seriously. He realized this, and spoke.

"The meaning of justice is not the act of revenge or balancing of the scales, but the salvation of everyone." He said as he smiled to himself, and then turned his attention back to Rubia. "I will let you live, but swear to never again endanger the lives of innocents." He said as he looked her straight in the eye, impressing upon her the magnitude of what he was saying, the weight his words carried, and he removed himself from her. "Why," she said, looking stunned. "Why is saving people so important to you?"As she said this, Shirou got a far away look in his eyes,"I too was saved once, the only survivor of a terrible disaster" he spoke, voice quivering with emotion as he recalled vivid memories."As I was saved, I thought'Why is he so happy?' and wondered if I could ever smile like that." he said looking at Rubia with a calm demeanor, completely unlike himself but minutes before."Rubia, saving people is what allows me to step forward, for only helping people will allow me to smile like that." He said, head turned to the side, a gentle smile plastering his lips.

As Rubia gained a convoluted look in her eyes, there was a splintering sound, and a portion of the roof collapsed, the fire having taken it's toll on the aged rolled away, dodging the falling debris. He quickly turned back as soon as he had landed, and hurried to the side of Rubia, who, while in a prone position, had been pinned under the rubble and was most likely suffering burns as they spoke. He quickly started to lift the rubble off of her, continuing far past the point of exhaustion. Spending what felt like days in that fiery abyss, he finally managed to get her uncovered.

He swiftly draped her over his small shoulders, applied a large dose of physical reinforcement, and sprinted for the exit.

 ***Scene Break***

As Shirou lay Rubia on the ground, he looked at her body with structural analysis. It was in bad condition to say the least, it seemed as if her legs had been crushed in multiple different places, and her organs were in critical condition. He had no idea what to do, he was hopeless at any sort of healing magecraft and the only thing that could fix damage like this that he knew of was…. **Avalon**. Shirou quickly focused inwards, drawing forth the mental image of his most treasured memory. He focused, and let it **be**. It was an impossible dream, the ever distant utopia. Yet it was his own impossible dream that allowed him to perfectly replicate that perfect utopia, for he understood it better than anything in all the world, as he too shared it's image of ever distant dreams that were always far away and impossible. He created this greatest of all illusions, and placed it inside the broken girl in front of him, and watched as it knitted her back together. He then departed in the direction that fate would take him.

He did not notice that the miracle he had produced stayed.

 ***Scene Break***

Rubia felt nothing but the pain, the cold embrace of death, and a gentle warmth from underneath her. As she felt herself be carried, she thought on the words of the boy, the words of **Shirou** , the name flew into her mind unbidden as she gazed at his gentle and fair, yet somehow hard, face. She considered what he had said about saving others, and she admittedly did not fully understand what he had been saying about saving people. She wanted to ask him about it, but it just hurt too much….

The last thing she felt before slipping into unconsciousness was a great warmth that eased the pain and brought to mind the boy she had just met and the most peaceful place she could ever have possibly imagined in the form of a field of rolling green hills on a glorious afternoon.

With that peaceful image, the Calamity Queen slept.

 **Chapter End**

 **A/N- Hey guys! Sorry if the last part of the chapter seems kind of underwhelming, I'm trying out new writing styles with this one and it's pretty late as I finish typing this. Tried to address some of the stuff in the comments. I've got tons planned for you guys in the next chapter so stay tuned. Shirou can most definitely do more than just reinforcement and projection, those are just his favored tools and what he is best at. Might do an omake in a few chapters to spice things up a bit.**

 **Re-I touched up the chapter a bit and added some content now that I've gotten some sleep, hope you guys enjoy the re-edited version.  
A/N/Extra-Editing this after reading some of the reviews. I had not originally planned to give Rubia Avalon, but I saw giving her a traced copy of the scabbard as a chance to flesh out her character in ways that other fics have not really been able to do so far, as well as explore some of the more direct and intricate changes that Shirou's presence brings to this world. Rubia's personality has been somewhat elusive to me in my research, so I apologize if she is rather OOC. Starting next chapter, we will be getting more into the actual state of the Blade Dance world, and the story will be progressing at a more steady rate. There are still several things we need to address before we get into the actual main story, but we will get there soon enough. The thing with trusting Restia when he woke up was not trust, it was more being dragged along as he had nothing else he could do due to confusion, his state of shock, and being influenced by the 'shadow'. Also, choosing to stay at the Instructional School was his own decision as he waited for the proper opportunity to save all those children in a realistic fashion rather than just 'kill the bad guys to set the traumatized assassin children free'.**

 **Until next time!-Unlimited Blade Quirks**


	4. Eyes Unclouded

**Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing. The rights go to Type/Moon and Yū Shimizu. Please, support the official release and enjoy.**

 **6/18/2016 EDIT: I have reworked this chapter slightly so as to create an overall more pleasant reading experience, as well as address some of the comments that have brought errors in the narrative to my attention. the next chapter is progressing, and until then, seeya.- Author-san**

 **A/N INTERRUPTION-**

 **Author-"Well, The writer's block is strong with this one."**

 **Shirou-"But Author-san, what about my reunion with Saber!?" cries Shirou in chibi-form with tears streaming down his face**

 **Author-"Now now, you deluded sap you, there is a significant amount of harem hijinks and awkward situations that need to happen before you two can meet again."**

 _ **Shirou steps back, looking stunned**_

 **Shirou-"B-b-but Author-san! I don't want to! What about the plot?!"**

 _ **The author suddenly looks at the chibified Shirou, strangely sporting five-o'clock shadow and sunglasses, expression grim.**_

 **Author- "Kid, if I told you what was in store for you, it would bring about the end of the universe. Now you must excuse me, I have a different POV and side-project to write."**

 _ **Shirou, looking confused, just blinks several times and stares blankly at the mysterious figure that knew his future,...apparently.**_

 _ **Suddenly, both the Author and Est, who mysteriously showed up, turn to the audience.**_

 **Author and Est- "Please Enjoy, and if you wouldn't mind, pray for Shirou's mental chastity."**

 **Shirou-"Wait,WHAT!?"**

 **-Random Blurb End-**

 **Chapter 3- Eyes Unclouded**

I continued to walk in the darkness, rain pouring from the sky in a twisted sort of melodious cacophony. As I walked, I pondered to myself the implications of having saved the so-called "Calamity Queen", Rubia Elstein. It had been a rash decision, driven by my insatiable desire to help people, but I could not help but feel that I had made a mistake sparing the life of someone who fought so hard to end me.

It was only because of the lack of any real killing intent that I had not ordained to finish her off swiftly and without hesitation, it had not helped the Muir had gotten in the way either. It was almost ironic that the building had to collapse on us at the apex of the conflict, brought down by flames hot enough to melt stone. Why had I bothered to project Avalon, and use it to heal wounds that could easily have…

"GAHHH!" I exclaimed out loud, snapping myself out of my "Battle Mode that is annoyingly similar to a certain cynical someone". I clapped my hands on my cheeks and let the cold rain drain the tension of the evening right out of me.

For a moment, let's recap. My name is Emiya Shirou, I am around 30 years old, 9, depending on who you ask, and I want to be a Hero of Justice. That dream seems kind of far off at the moment, considering the last fight I had ended with the building burning down. Strangely, that's how most of my endeavors usually used to end…. but enough of that. I look around and see that on a dark and stormy night, I was standing on a street corner, alone, and quite lost.

Two things simultaneously occurred to me: One, I should probably get out of the rain and see about setting Restia free, and Two: Oh crap, I forgot Muir!

After searching around the entire town via rooftop, I had been able to confirm my suspicions, Muir had probably taken my advice to run a little too literally, and was most likely still doing so. I had seen just how skilled she was, so I wasn't worried about her being assaulted by some ruffian, but she was my little sister figure dammit!

After several more laps around the small town and the surrounding area, I finally gave up for the day. _"She'll be fine,"_ I told myself, _"Muir knows how to handle herself, I'll just meet up with her later."_ As I thought such things, I realized that I was actually quite hungry, and decided to track down a place to lay low for a while.

The town that I was in, Albana, was a quiet, seedy place on the edge of the Ordesia Empire. While it had absolutely no strategic value and was filled with criminals,vagrants, and all sorts of other riffraff, the place still managed to attract a decent amount of tourism thanks to the local guardian spirit making regular appearances. I myself had never seen it, but then, most spirits tended to avoid me for some reason.

I ducked into the nearest inn and, after sampling some of my food, they agreed to let me stay for the night if I worked for the evening. The Inn was a reasonably sized two story establishment that focused mainly on catering to the large population of alcoholics that lived in the area, but it would serve as an acceptable place to spend the remainder of the night.

Little did I know that my cooking of all things would be what did me in…..

 **Greyworth POV**

I really had no reason to bother with this place, but as a former Knight General, I had to keep up appearances. There had been rumors of dark happenings in the region, and where better to start looking for trash than a town that was a bit of a hot spot for such things.

"This trip had better be worth it…" I muttered as I walked down the street, shivering slightly from the nighttime chill. The town of Albana was what one would expect from a border village, dark, seedy, and oftentimes even outright malicious. Not a pleasant experience, but I had to go somewhere to root out the source of all the recent assassination attempts.

It wasn't the nobility, most of them had become spineless soon after the whole "Turn Orphans into perfect assassins" plan had failed to such a degree that the lucky ones only got their fortunes seized by the government considering a number of treasonous conspiracies and underhanded deals that were discovered involving the 'school', though the organization itself remained elusive.

I put these thoughts in the back of my mind as I turned the corner, saw an inn, and immediately decided I could go for a quick drink.

As I pushed open the door, my senses were immediately alerted to something amiss in the room. Instead of gambling or holding a drinking contest, most of the individuals seemed preoccupied with eating. "Curious…" I whispered, making a mental note to use spirit magic to detect poisons before I tried some for myself.

"Oi Barkeep! Bring a flagon here!" I called as I took a seat at the bar, glancing around the room to keep track of potential threats.

The room was about as large as one of the classrooms back at the academy, with tables spread about and a stairwell leading to the second story next to the bar. There was a door leading back into the kitchen behind the barkeep, who had just come over and asked my order.

"Just some brandy and whatever food is around will do," I stated in a lazy tone. I really just wanted a quick drink before I bothered with all this troublesome work.

Identifying no immediate threats, besides the seeming frenzy over a few tables where some travelers were shoving their meals down their gullets faster than even I could easily see, I took my own advice and used some quick spirit magic on the meal that the barman had just slid me.

I was surprised to find that, for some reason, the results were somewhat haphazardly thrown into my mind, as if the spirit that did the test was otherwise distracted from its task. Seeing that there was no poison present, regardless of the strange reaction, I took my first bite.

 **Shirou POV**

I sighed happily. There really was no other way to relieve stress like cooking, except for a really good fight, but mostly cooking. As I put the finishing touches on the current venison steak, I was forced to brush my hair out of my eyes. _"I really should get it cut again."_ I thought as I began sauteing the next steak.

A really strange quirk with my body the last couple years had been its uncontrollable quirks here and there, one of which was my hair growing at an unnatural rate until it reached past my shoulders. Several occasions where I had been isolated for several weeks at a time had taught me that it just seemed to mysteriously stop once it reached about that length. It had me cutting my hair around once every two weeks to keep it at roughly my standard slightly spiky short hair.

As I set the steak on a plate, I was startled by the door suddenly bursting open with enough force to make the hinges whine in protest, reflexively cocking the mental gun and preparing to trace my most practiced blades.

"You there,girl." said a silver-haired woman with equally silver eyes, sporting a peculiar monocle that seemed to complete her image for some reason. "Are you the one who cooked that?!" she exclaimed, gesturing to the venison sitting on the plate, all but forgotten in my momentary panic.

Feeling adequately confused, I proceeded to then compose myself and then answer her. "Ah, yes I am, bu-" any further words from my mouth were silenced by the woman suddenly lashing out with her hand, catching me by surprise on the shoulder. I tensed up, ready to quickly escape her grasp, but suddenly found myself in a rather sturdy sack, at least that's what it felt like.

The rest of the night was comprised of a back and forth game of cat and pointy object. Suffice to say that in the end, I, the Red Knight, The Wrought-Iron Magus, the man who banged King Arthur and the greatest mage of her generation at the same time, the man who had vanquished two Dead Apostle Ancestors on his own, the master of the Unlimited Blade Works, a self-proclaimed Hero of Justice, had just been kidnapped by a witch, for the third time.

 **(Several Days Later)**

"So let me see if I've got this." I said, eye twitching ever so slightly."You effectively kidnapped me, just to hire me on as a chef?"

"Yes,that would be the case." the woman before me said matter-of-factly. I found the whole situation a little too absurd, even for me.

This woman, Greyworth, had kidnapped me just because of my cooking ability? I was confident in my skill, but who does that!?

"When we arrive at my estate, I expect you to get to work immediately, young lady," said Greyworth, causing me to once again glare at her in mild annoyance. "I keep telling you! I am a GUY!" I exclaimed at her for the third time during that trip.

We were currently in a rented out carriage, heading towards this difficult woman's home. She apparently was an individual of some repute, given she had told the driver to head to the Areishia Spirit Academy, where only nobles and Elementalists were permitted. The prestigious institution was known throughout the empire for the exemplary Elementalists it produced, mainly because most graduates went on to become Spirit Knights.

"I still struggle to believe that a young girl such as yourself could possibly be male," she said, amusement dancing in her eyes. It had become abundantly clear to me just how much she enjoyed teasing me, and that she knew full well that I was male, but Root damn it, I had my pride!

I had yet to really understand just who she was, but during our earlier scuffle, an incident had occurred that resulted in her offering me help in unsealing Restia. I was still unsure as to how this world's magic worked exactly, so I reluctantly agreed. Greyworth unnerves me somewhat, as I could recognize a fellow veteran of the battlefield relatively easily, but I am convinced that under that….teasing nature, she was a good person at heart, kidnapping aside.

As we arrived in front of a luxurious mansion located off to the side of the academy proper, Greyworth and I stepped out into the afternoon sunlight. I stretched out and proceeded to rub the sleep out of my eyes, I had gone without sleep for days on end before, I could handle this inconvenience.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly this time," Greyworth said to my side, looking positively unaffected by the long ride. "I am Greyworth Ciel Mais, former Knight General of the Ordesia Empire, and your new master."

Oh,OH….so she was THAT Greyworth, the Dusk Witch…...Root damn it.

"Oh, my apologies for my rude behavior, My name is Shirou Emiya." I quickly replied, attempting to hide my own shock at the revelation. She was infamous in this country for her overwhelming strength and a famous war hero. Did I really just get kidnapped by someone like that?!

"Good to hear Shirou, now get in uniform and prepare lunch, we can continue our conversation then,"she said as we reached the door. She then instructed a servant to lead me to a room, then left, presumably to the dining area.

I hate my E rank luck.

As I stormed into the dining hall, serving tray in hand, I began to question the morality of my own existence. Is one truly free? Or is it the prerogative of some higher power to continuously throw me into the fires of hell and expect to be entertained?

I am beginning to suspect the latter.

"Greyworth, would you mind explaining the reason as to me being given a maid's uniform upon having cleaned myself?" I said in a monotone voice that was clearly laced with sarcasm as I set the meal down in front of her. It really was frustrating when I had finished cleaning myself up, only to find my clothes had been replaced with Solomon's ring resting on top of a folded pile.

I had been annoyed, to say the least, So I had deftly traced myself a pair of pants. When I had finally managed to put on clothing and marched down to the dining hall, it was all to no avail as the servant would not even allow me in unless I had cooked something and was on my way to present it to Greyworth.

Having finally made my way into the room, I see that the witch is calmly drinking her tea, waiting for my arrival.

"You're late, from now on, be ready to present the meal five minutes before I am seated." she said, calmly setting down her drink and looking me in the eyes.

"Don't ignore the question damn it!" I yelled; my thin veneer breaking, my being more than slightly furious with the woman in front of me becoming all the more apparent. "In response to your question, why does looking at you make me automatically want to see you dressed as a female?" she said with a poorly hidden smirk.

Taking a deep breath and setting aside my growing frustration, I calmed myself and addressed the matter in a much more controlled manner. "Greyworth" I stated pointedly,"I am another human being,as such, I do not enjoy being toyed with." She seemed taken aback for a moment by my suddenly serious tone, but quickly masked her surprise in a smooth manner, speaking of vast prior experience.

She then looked me in the eyes, deadly serious, and said, "I know that, but I have taken a liking to tormenting you." Forcing myself to avoid deadpanning, I sighed and sat down,feeling distraught.

Greyworth began lightly consuming her meal, joy evident in her eyes for a split second as she ate the first bite, but was quickly masked beneath an air of casual seriousness, not enough to dampen the mood in the room, but enough to keep my attention."Now"she said"About that ring…"

I carefully dodged past the blade of the assassin as I deftly traced two relatively decent nameless broadswords, and then slashed at her side. She deftly deflected the blow and then swiped at my head.

Greyworth had told me that I needed a book called the **Key of Solomon** in order to set Restia free. In the several weeks, I had been working and Greyworth had discovered that I was, in fact, an Elementalist myself, bringing about even further teasing as to my feminine appearance. She had also at that time assigned me the duties of housework and assassination prevention in addition to my responsibilities as her personal attendant.

In regards to the book I needed, she had forwarded me to the recently seized Elstein family library that was in the possession of the state. Now while I might be experienced in espionage, I refused to steal anything from there. It really just came down to whether or not I was willing to commit a crime, and after the last few years with the Instructional School,I preferred to stay on the just side of the law, thank you very much. Besides, I was just waiting for an opportunity to trace Rule Breaker when I wasn't being monitored by Greyworth.

To my surprise, When she had ordered me to clean her study, I found that she possessed a copy of the very text she had wanted me to steal. Which brings us to where we currently are, defending said book from an assassin who seemed very keen on its destruction.

 **Greyworth**

I was forced back by an attempted slash to my side that I quickly parried away and returned with a stab to the head. Shirou had not been kidding when he said he was an Elementalist. He was clearly well-trained in the art of swordplay as he deftly defended against my slash and skillfully used my own forward momentum against me by ducking low and going for my vitals all in one smooth motion.

I had been surprised when the cute, if somewhat boyish, girl I had found in the kitchen in that Inn had turned out to be a rather powerful male Elementalist. I had found, to my delight, that he even excelled at all kinds of housework I had been able to imagine.

The look in his eyes most of the time, though, caused me to worry. He seemed so...empty, for lack of a better term. When he had told me about his past after several weeks in my employ, I had learned that he had been a 'Disciple" of the Instructional School. While the institution itself was a joke, the harsh, monstrous things they did to children to turn them into emotionless killing machines were not. I took great pleasure in finding out that the entire place had burned down.

I feared for Shirou's mental health, that look in his eyes that spoke of carrying a heavy burden, one that should not belong to a child like him. He seemed to look for something that wasn't there or else far away. I felt that I had to do something, so I left my copy of Solomon's Key on my desk and told him to clean my study, all in an effort to show him what it was like to have something to protect when I appeared dressed as an assassin bent on the books destruction.

He surpassed my expectations on our first engagement, that's for sure. While he has none of the grace of a blade dancer in his style, it is clear to me that he was an amazingly accomplished swordsman for his age. It made me shiver when I thought of what he must have had to endure to obtain such skill.

I was also impressed by the blades he produced with Weapon Works, as they were far above the quality most could produce with the difficult spell, and easily kept up with my own blade created the same way.

I leaped over him and whirled my own sword at his shoulder, only to find my blade caught on his, with his second sword striking at my face. I quickly leaned back, dodging the blade by a hair's breath,though my face mask was not so lucky as it was rent in two, revealing my face for the world to see. I quickly leaped back several feet as soon as I made contact with the ground.

"Greyworth?!"Shirou shouted, clearly surprised. I smiled at him in a teasing manner, observing his expression while he was wearing a maid's dress was just too amusing.

"Indeed Shirou," I said in a conversational tone. I thought about his performance in our fight just now, how he had blocked all of my attempts to break through his defense. He was skilled, but I could already think of several ways to improve upon what he could already do, preferably a tad more elegant in the future. My decision made, I looked him directly in the eyes. "Now that we are done here, let us set your spirit friend free." I said, and as an afterthought,"Also, Shirou, have you ever considered learning how to perform a blade dance?"

Just like that, Fate marched onwards. It had no destination in mind, only stops on the way there. Fickle, really, how it takes twists and turns without our knowledge. It takes quite the individual to look upon it all without preconceptions of hatred, jealousy, or anger. It is a good thing we have such a man, one who can remain unswayed in his search for true Justice.

But some events are fated, even with so many differences, Akasha continues to monitor all eventualities. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to force these things to happen. Is it a bad thing? Consider for a moment, the miracle of two impossible souls meeting. Then make your judgment.

 **-Chapter End-**

 **A/N- So sorry that it took so long! I ended up getting hit with one of the worst cases of writer's block that I've ever experienced, and it threw me off my game for months! I took the advice of the reviews section, and tried to make this chapter a bit more light hearted and slice of life-like, but it will be hard to do that until we get to the real story itself instead of all these expository chapters!But good news,next chapter is the last one! Sorry if Greyworth is really OOC, as I really have trouble characterizing her and information on Blade Dance is hard to find. I almost live off of the reviews section, so be sure to leave one if you can. I can tolerate some flames, but please, don't go bombarding me with nothing but them! I really appreciate constructive criticism, and I want to thank all of you guys for the great advice and support up to this point. I have no intention of retiring this story whatsoever,even if my update schedule will be sporadic and lacking at times, I am determined to this fic to completion! In regards to Shirou, I'm just going to outright say that his body was altered in more ways than you originally thought, and that will be plot-relevant later on. To those of you who haven't figured out who the "shadow" was yet, then take some time to look it up, or wait until we address it in the story. The brief fight with Greyworth was a reinterpretation of an event mentioned in passing in the canonical Blade Dance world, and Shirou was holding back massively, as was Greyworth. I also tried writing this one in the first person, tell me what you think. I hope you enjoyed this work and see ya.**

 **Until Next Time-Unlimited Blade Quirks**

 **P.S, props to anyone who got the chapter reference, Studio Ghibli's movies are still the best.**


	5. Nightmare

**Disclaimer-**

 **Fate belongs to Type/Moon and Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance belongs to Yū Shimizu. Please support the official release.**

 **As usual, Please Enjoy**

 **Chapter 4- Nightmare**

 _The thread that binds fate is interwoven throughout the entirety of the Kaleidoscope. In this endless void of possibility, how does one come to exist? There are limitless lines of events that take place simultaneously and separately all at once, making the feat of successfully circumnavigating this entanglement truly awe inspiring. Within the framework of all this, events force themselves to take place, regardless of where or when. One common factor present in all facets of reality shows itself when such things occur. In the infinite, a connection must exist between individuals._

 _For example, A Servant cannot be summoned without a catalyst, a connection between Heroic Spirit and summoner. So what, pray tell, brought one cursed and forsaken by fate into this cycle of events? Only time will tell….._

The crowd was enthralled by the spectacle before them. The combatants in the arena each moved with a grace that spoke of unrivaled skill and elegance, each movement denoting immense strength. The redhead quickly rolled to the left, smoothly dodging the cannon shot originating from the blonde, who was utilizing a large fortress-type spirit in its elemental waffe form of an immense suit of armor armed with several cannons, with capabilities for incredible movement in the air and on the ground.

After dodging to the left, the redhead immediately sprang towards the mec…, erm, I mean armour, aiming for the torso, where the lungs would be located on a normal human,only to bring herself to a sudden stop mid air by blocking the bladed arm of the fortress that had been attempting to intercept her with the haft of her spear. " _She'll try the cannon's next_." the redhead thought offhandedly as she flipped mid-air, jabbing the suit's arm with the butt of her spear to provide drive, and skillfully landed on the tall figures shoulder just as the aforementioned predicted assault of cannons fired from the hulk's shoulder on the location she had just occupied.

Flipping the spear around again and then driving it's edge into the breastplate of the "Silent Fortress", he heard an audible gasp from the blonde girl as she was pierced by the blade. Seeing the girl's shock, he offered her a small, reassuring yet determined smile, as he then withdrew his spear and hopped off of the unmoving titan even as it dissipated into motes of blue light and the girl fell into unconsciousness, hitting the ground with an unceremonious 'plop'.

Without pause, he then turned and walked back towards the entrance that he had come into the arena through not ten minutes ago, leaving the arena in a state of awed shock. As he went, he took no notice of the overly leering, admiring stares of several individuals in the audience, especially so in the case of a certain blue-haired girl.

The shocked announcer then finally got her bearings, and in a stuttering voice proclaimed "F-f-f-fourth favorite to win, "Silent Fortress" Velsaria Eva Fahrengart, representing Areshia Spirit Academy, and contracted to the spirit **Dreadnought** has lost," she then continued, "Winner of this first round match goes to independent Elementalist, **Rin Tohsaka** , with spirit **Restia Ashdoll**!" After hearing this, the crowd suddenly broke out into a roar of enthusiastic cheering.

The sentiment was appreciated but was giving "Rin" a headache, even from outside the arena. What he would do to end this predicament faster given the opportunity is better left to the imagination, but suffice to say it would make the true owner of the name he was using proud.

Shirou was very tired. The passage of time in the last year had been rather quick in his opinion, though there had been no end of exasperation in the last several months. After the fake assassination incident, Greyworth had engaged in many impromptu training sessions with him in order to " _Teach you a much more elegant fighting style than that brutish malarkey you continue to practice with those oversized knives of yours."_ as she put it.

Despite the fact he had assimilated all of the information involving her so-called **"Absolute Blade Arts** " style the moment he had laid eyes on the elemental waffe form of her contracted spirit **Void** , he had refrained from stopping her for the simple reasons that it would be troublesome and he felt that he would quickly get bored if he did not have anything else to do but be forced into a kitchen by a demented witch.

At the very least, Greyworth had been able to keep up with him at a level that would actually give him a decent workout, even with the child's body that he was currently stuck with. It had then been a simple matter after that to demonstrate a mastery of the technique that was an exact match for Greyworth herself, and then to quickly surpass her by correcting flaws that he made out in _her_ fighting style, and filling in the gaps with the skill of an appropriate Heroic Spirit. As a conclusion to a short story, they had ended up mostly just focusing on familiarizing him with the rules governing the highly regarded sacred Kagura rituals that the magic users of this world practiced that the blade dance was based on.

Apparently, it had originated in ancient times as a ceremony to appease the more violent rampaging spirits by engaging in ritualistic combat that was meant to calm madness and corruption by interacting on a spiritual level with the purity of a princess maiden, more commonly known as Elementalists in the modern time. The specifics and intricacies of the ritual escaped Shirou, but he understood the general basics of it. It operated by pitting the will of the Elementalist against the main body of the spirit, somewhat like fighting it in both a physical and mental capacity at once, and then painstakingly purifying it's rage until the fight ended by calming the spirit, contracting it, or in the worst case, killing it.

The original ritual had not been utilized for centuries now and had instead evolved into a ceremony that used ritual combat as entertainment for powerful spirits in a form of direct appeasement. The ritual had gradually gone from [ **Purifying a creature beyond humanity with one's own spiritual purity through ritualistic combat** ] to the much weaker version that [ **Seeks to calm a spirit and gain its favor through a display of beauty** ] and focused so much on the showmanship of the combatants, that had become human Elementalists somewhere along the way, that any true efficiency in real combat had eventually bled away, not to say that there was none.

To Shirou, it was disappointing that a tradition of such import had eventually become nothing more than a number of young women throwing dangerous forces at each other for the amusement of powerful beings over the course of time.

He had also learned of a very interesting part of this world from Greyworth called **Astral Zero**. While she had looked at him funny when he had asked what that was when she had mentioned it, she had relented and given him a very basic run through a cramming session of an Elementalists formal education. Astral Zero was the world in which the spirits lived, separate, but integrally connected to their own world.

Shirou had needed her to repeat herself several times when she had mentioned the "other world" bit, and had resolved to learn as much on the subject as possible. If he had understood it right, Astral Zero was basically an "otherworld" that operated under different rules as the human one. For example, wounds sustained by humans there had no physical effect, but instead damaged mental clarity and consciousness. The opposite also applies to spirits, as here one could actually hurt them on a physical level, unlike the real world.

The archeological reports and history of the place were fascinating in the few accounts that Shirou had read as it was the native plane of the spirits, but it swiftly became clear that not much was actually known about the alternate space, as much of it was still completely unexplored.

The real significance behind the workouts was eventually revealed around what probably passed for March here. After they had freed Restia from the ring, letting Greyworth do it with the book so as to not draw attention to his magecraft, Shirou filled her in on what she had missed in the rough two week period that she had been sealed away for. Restia's first response, of course, was to knock him over the head and call him an idiot. _"Ah,"_ he had thought at that moment _"just like old times."_

After that incident, Restia had taken up the habit of watching their spars, sometimes giving pointers on parts of the ritual that Void had not contained in it's memories that he struggled with, occasionally insisting that Shirou wield her instead of just tracing a mundane sword that suited the style. Restia had eventually told him rather mysteriously "We are going to be participating in the upcoming Blade Dance, not a small ritual or tournament, but the grand festival held in honor of the Elemental Lords. Prepare yourself." After that she had redoubled her efforts to teach Shirou the finer points of the ridiculous style that was required to be used in some form in order to participate in the tournament.

That was how he got to the present, minus a few details.

"Restia, explain to me again the context for having me pose as a female?" said Shirou as he finished bundling up the frustratingly long hair that both of the current troublesome women in his life had insisted he take several months and grow it out. Restia sighed as she replied from where she was sheathed on his back. "We cannot afford to let the news of the Demon King having been reborn get out just yet, imagine the panic that would ensue should anybody find out." she finished, having explained this very same thing to him several times over the last week.

She and Greyworth had decided that it would be best for him to pose as a young independant female Elementalist looking to make a name for herself in order to avoid suspicion.( **It may also have had something to do with wanting to tease Shirou in Greyworth's case, and Restia was just a pervert.** ) Shirou had attempted to shoot the idea down immediately, quite literally with his bow significantly further into that particular conversation, but had eventually been swayed due to the circumstances of it being a high profile event that every major country on the continent would have a representative participating in. When Restia had suggested the name Ren Ashbell as his cover, Shirou had responded with "At the very least, I'm not going to take up a strange false name." and when pressured to come up with something better, the man who was unimaginative when things did not involve swords or cooking lamely stated 'Rin Tohsaka'. Which would become a household name for years to come unbeknownst to the unfortunate owner of blades.

As Shirou finished recalling the displeasing information, he once again stood up and stretched his legs. Having returned to male clothing consisting of a blue long sleeve shirt and gray britches, he observed his surroundings in careful detail, soaking in the ambient mana and divine energy in the air around him. The world of Astral Zero intrigued him quite a bit, as no matter how terrible he was, he was still a magus. From what he could tell, the spirits of this world were not just souls that had obtained powerful abilities after long periods of time spent gaining power through the consumption of mana.

Nor were they just embodiments of the great amount of natural phenomena that was present in this reality. It seemed that the things here that were called "Spirits" were actual creatures that had evolved in a naturally supernatural environment, and had taken on the characteristics of and gained abilities over concepts, elements, and objects that came into existence over time and influenced how those things further developed.

The only thing that really unnerved Shirou involving spirits was the whole " **Elemental Lords** " business. The beings seemed to have absolute control over fundamental aspects of creation itself, and use that power they did, like the Elemental Lord of Fire, **Volcanicus** ,becoming enraged and preventing fires from being started anywhere in the unfortunate Elstein Dukedom after Rubia Elstein had stolen Laevateinn from his temple.

While he was not one for worship, Shirou could certainly understand not wanting to piss off beings who had the power to utterly destroy the world and all of the people living on it. Which was unfortunate, because his goal in coming here was for the precise reason that he had to kill those exact entities. "Restia, are you positive there is no saving them from this _**Otherworldly Darkness**_?" said Shirou in reference to their mission. Restia stayed silent for a moment on his back and then once more began to explain the situation to her battle-hardened partner. "Shirou, you must understand that this is the only way to release them from the shackles of insanity that have bound them for millennia. If there were any other way, Ren Ashdoll surely would have discovered it during the great **Spirit War** , but for all her wisdom, even she found no solution."

Restia had spent the year after she and Shirou had separated from the Instructional School preparing for this as she had finally obtained an opportunity to fulfill her purpose as the Will of Ren Ashdoll. She explained to Shirou the true origins of the demon king and the wish that they had to make.

" _To set them free from the unending pain and suffering in their madness, we must kill the Elemental Lords. The annual Blade Dance held in their honor happens roughly one year from now, the winner is granted one wish by the Lords. Shirou, you must win the tournament and wish for their deaths."_

If there was one thing that Shirou did not trust, it was most certainly the granting of a wish. A 'Wish' with no strings attached simply could not exist, the Grail War had given him far more than enough experience with such a thing. While something like that was their proposed plan, he refused to let his guard down for fear of the situation spiraling out of control. He just hoped that things could be contained this time.

As Shirou walked through the forest talking to Restia trying kill time until his next match, his attention was suddenly seized by a shriek coming from the direction of a slightly denser part of the forest that was off of the main path that had been worn into the area. Before he had even registered what sort of source the sound could have originated from he was already sprinting full force in the direction of the distressed wail.

As he dashed past the line of trees that obscured his vision, it was not long before the source of the disturbance came into view, for in front of him there was a small clearing where a young raven haired girl was being attacked by a tree spirit called a **Dryad**.

The girl was unharmed, he noted mechanically as he unsheathed Restia from her place on his back. While it would have been easier to just trace something, having a more permanent weapon such as the Vorpal Sword at his disposal allowed him to save energy instead of projecting something. As he closed the distance, the dryad seemed to sense his approach and quickly brought its full attention to the more pressing threat. Vines shot out towards Shirou from the surrounding earth, only to quickly be cut away as they met with a far superior force. Shirou continued to gain forward momentum as he ducked under an overhand swipe aimed at his torso from the dryad, to then swing upwards and sever the offending limb. As the Dryad reeled back in pain, Shirou delivered the finishing blow by rending the thing in two.

As the girl observed the brief engagement, she seemed to have fallen into a state of shock at what had happened, Shirou noted as he sheathed the Vorpal Sword and gave the area a once over to confirm that there was no more threats present. Confirming this, Shirou quickly went to the young woman's side. "Are you alright miss?" he asked in a concerned tone, crouching so as to be level with her.

"A-a-ah yes, I'm fine." she managed to stutter out, clearly uneasy from the experience. As he helped her back up, Shirou noted the girl was quite beautiful, not in the same league as people like Saber or Rider had been, but pleasant in a way that was still far beyond what was common. Letting go of her, he began to brush himself off "Ano, would you be Rin Tohsaka-sama?"

Shirou froze in place with a look of abject horror plastered on his face.

Fianna Ray Ordesia was having a rather difficult day. With the dryad that had attacked her defeated, she had no reason to fear for her life for the moment, and she had just had a rather strange revelation. The red-haired young man who had saved her life was using the same sword that the magnificent Tohsaka-sama had been and used it with the same practiced, skillful movements. She had asked the question that had popped into her head, and he had frozen up with an expression that just screamed 'Mortified'.

"Well, are you?" said Fianna, seeking the answer to her question. Quickly recovering, her savior quickly put up a 'cool' front and said "W-What could you possibly mean by that? I'm just a wandering swordsman who happened to pass by!" As he said this, she noticed that he was sweating slightly, clearly flustered from being put on the spot like this. "It's just, You have the same sword as her, and you used a similar technique just now, so I assumed that you were her," stated Fianna as she stared quizzically at the youth. Shirou for his part looked as if he had been stricken, the event of someone discovering the truth too much for his young(?) mind to handle. It was some moments after that that he was bowing before Fianna shouting "Please don't tell anyone!"

Fianna just stared at him for a moment, blinking, before she began laughing harder than she had in a long time. When she had calmed down, she said: "Well then, all that aside, My name is Fianna Ray Ordesia, to whom do I owe the pleasure?" At her words, Shirou, who had been sighing in defeat muttering something about 'luck', perked up a bit and offered his hand. "My name is Shirou Emiya, pleased to meet you." The rest of that encounter would be the catalyst of things to come.

The competitors each walked into the arena from their respective gates. The arena was constructed from what had been a volcanic caldera until it had been repurposed into its current form when Fire Mountain City had been carved out of an entire small mountain range several thousand years ago, the stained black stone evidence of the locations violent primal past.

Shirou was approaching the center of the arena from the south entrance. To onlookers, he appeared as a calm and collected young androgynous individual, but in all actuality, Shirou had long since grown exasperated with this entire event. Similar to his assumed namesake, Shirou had put forth a "mask" to hide behind so that he could move about freely without suspicion as to his true identity.

Thanks in no small part to his bodies current young age, strange effeminate characteristics, and a sufficiently large amount of subtle illusion magic, it seemed that he had successfully managed to pass as a young woman in the eyes of the crowd at large and any opponents that he had faced up to this point. Shirou shuttered for a moment, inklings of repressed memories involving magical girls threatening to come forth from the depths of his subconscious before he shook away the momentary distraction to focus on the task at hand.

Up until now, he had used Restia as per her request to fight against most of his adversaries, with the exception of Fahrengart, whom he had just traced and reinforced a nameless spear to defeat due to her devastating long range capabilities and recalling a fight with Lancer that he had received from Archer's memories, but looking at his final opponent he resolved that it would be unwise to rush straight in as he had done until now.

"We finally find ourselves here in the finals!" said the announcer's voice as it boomed across the colosseum with the aid of wind magic."The amazing Rin Tohsaka-san! Who has dazzled us until now with her amazing feats of skill in direct combat. Ah~ What a cool beauty!" Not missing a beat, the announcer then turned around and brought the crowd's attention to his opponent."Here we have Eris Sigmund, representative of the Dracunia Empire with her contracted spirit, the dragon **Fafnir**!"

Eris was a girl of fifteen that came up to roughly 5'3'' and dressed conservatively in mainly dark tones. Her dark neck length hair fell neatly around eyes that contained a sharp determination. This would not be a walk in the metaphorical park. She clearly had skill if she had made it to the finals in this representative war between this world's countries. Shirou estimated that she would attempt to overwhelm him with spells at mid-range before closing in for the finishing blow, all the while relying on her dragon spirit's superior physical capabilities and their rather famous highly magic resistant scales to deal with any counter attacks that he could execute in the first several steps of the battle.

Several minutes passed, during which the excitement in the crowd seemed to grow even more, if that was even possible at that juncture. Finally, the signal was given to begin. As Shirou had expected, Eris let loose several fireballs right off the bat and urged her dragon to begin rushing towards him. Quickly using the Vorpal Sword to bat aside the balls of condensed heat, he himself rushed forward, meeting the dragon head on as it charged. Running full force, he feinted by rolling to the left at the last second and then tracing the whip **Reaver- Lash of Souls**. Flicking his wrist, Shirou let his intention guide the whip to wrap around Fafnir's forelegs, binding it in place.

It's forward momentum carrying it down, Fafnir let out an enraged roar as it crashed into the ground. Shirou had barely any time to take this in as he flipped back to avoid a streak of electricity aimed at him from Eris. She had hit the ground rolling after it became apparent that Fafnir was downed, and had skillfully followed up with a Divine Thunder spell. Landing comfortably, Shirou rushed forward in a blur of motion, swinging at Eris's jugular.

Channeling a large amount of divine power, she unleashed a wave of force as a last ditch effort to defend herself, pushing both of them away several meters. Upon regaining his bearings, Eris had already rushed over to Fafnir and was attempting to unravel the whip that prevented the great beast from interfering in the fight. Turning her head and preparing to fire another volley of suppression fire, she was confused to find that Shirou was nowhere to be seen. Quickly scanning all around her, she was too late to react to the destruction that was unleashed upon her from Shirou's bow far above them.

In the moment that Eris's attention had been elsewhere, Shirou had jumped far above and unleashed a curtain of magically enhanced arrows upon them in order to bring the fight to a swift conclusion. When the dust had settled, Eris lay unconscious on the ground, Fafnir dispersing into motes of light not ten feet from her position. Dismissing his traced items, Shirou stood quietly, awaiting what was to come moments passed where the colosseum was in complete silence. Suddenly the crowd burst into cheers, applause resounding throughout the area as many of the individuals looked on in seeming admiration at the wonderful show of skill that was the final match of the Blade Dance. Hence, Rin Tohsaka became the strongest blade dancer.

The room was dark. It seemed as if space itself forgot it's meaning here in this place where nothing could be felt, yet all could be touched. After his victory in the finals, Shirou had been quickly ushered into an area cordoned off from the rest of the arena by the strongest barriers that he had seen since coming to this world. It was there that he had met the queens, powerful Elementalists who were trained by the divine ritual institute from a young age and groomed to become the perfect direct representatives and servants of the Elemental Lords themselves.

The conversation was as brief as it was cryptic, they had started with a swift congratulation as to his offering to the Lords, and then they had whisked him into the depths of their private accommodations to stand before a doorway. The doorway had clearly not been natural, even to the world such as Astral Zero. It wreaked of a sort of 'wrongness' that reminded Shirou prominently of his few encounters with the Wizard Marshall, such was the distortion of the gateway. After a stern warning to "Not deviate from the hallway, proceed directly across to the opposite doorway." he had been ushered through without a chance to protest.

Which left him where he currently existed, in a location that smelled of 'everywhere' and yet had no identity of its own, a 'between' place. Knowing better than to risk getting lost in an eldritch wasteland, Shirou quietly proceeded to the indicated door and spoke. "Are you ready to kill some gods, Restia?" he quizzed to the blade held in his hand as he steeled his determination for what they could face. If the Lords were anything like the gods of his world had been before they faded, he would need all of his power for the coming battle.

"I have been waiting for this moment for millennia Shirou, I am happy to accompany you," she replied with a bit of a playful air despite the gravity of the situation. Smirking to himself for a moment as he allowed the humor to provide him with a momentary reprieve, he then wiped any mirth from his visage. Opening the ornate doorway carved of some type of stone he way not familiar with, Shirou entered into a massive open space that was completely dark with the exception of the center of the room, which was bathed in a series of ever shifting lights coming from five raised throne like structures arranged around the center platform in a grand semicircle. Taking his place in the center of the room as if guided by instinct, he heard a voice that emanated from all around him. _"Your performance was magnificent, mortal. Few could have matched the skill with which you have moved our hearts. Speak now the desire you hold within your own heart, and it shall be granted."_ the voice that resonated within his mind sounded more like a possessed person from one of those horror movies back home rather than that of an all powerful deity, but it still somehow struck a sense of awe in his mind even as he readied himself.

Something about the situation struck a chord within Shirou, a sort of familiarity that he felt with the moment at hand, screaming at him that things here just were not right. He felt an odd sensation within himself, almost as if a part of him wanted to strike the beings before him down immediately despite that it would almost certainly mean his death.

Breathing in deeply, he spoke. "The wish that I hold is not something that I could ask you to grant, as it is something that must be strived for." he said with a powerful voice, conviction strong as steel omnipresent within every syllable."As I will not ask for my own desire, I propose the ambition of another." He stated while tensing up, preparing to launch straight for his intended target.

"My wish, as it would be, is thus." He jumped **"I desire the death of the Elemental Lords."**

Space resonated. Time rent. A pulse went forth from a single point in the kaleidoscope, ripping through the fabric of reality and the multiverse, latching onto another parallel world far different from the one it had originated from, seeking to fulfill something that was unresolved. It pulsed once more, pulling and pushing, and then was gone. But it had not escaped notice.

Shirou propelled himself through the air, Hearing Restia shout "Go for **Alexandros**!" in a pressing manner, he instead aimed himself at whom he deemed to be the most dangerous of the lot. **Volcanicus** appeared as a shriveled old man with glossy red skin and a patch going over one eye, he appeared to have once been a mighty warrior, Shirou noted as he entered the red light that obscured him from view. When Shirou began to move to the left, withdrawing the Vorpal Sword from his chest, he thought he caught a glimpse of a small smile from the man as his body instantaneously dissolved into motes of light. Having unleashed the Vorpal Swords true might of "True darkness that cuts the truth with abstraction" within the chest cavity of Volcanicus, Shirou quickly jumped for the throne wreathed in blue light to repeat the process with **Iseria Seaward** , while enroute, he traced **Gáe Bolg** and unleashed it at **Belphal** ,Elemental Lord of the winds, who was seated directly across from Volcanicus. No sooner than he had plunged the blade into Iseria's neck, the room suddenly broke into sightlessness as an overwhelming " **Sound** " was heard.

"IIIIIIIIIIII **IIIIIIIIIIIIII"**

As if to emphasize the overwhelming racket, blackness began to fill the room from above,below, and every which way. A familiar scent invaded Shirou's nostrils as he was suddenly bathed in unholy damnation incarnate. He tried to trace something, anything, to get him out of this predicament. But as soon as he grasped the weapon, it shattered back into its component prana and dispersed. As blackness **killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkilldiediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediedie** began to consume him, he heard "Shirou!" as he sank into the abyss. Suddenly he felt weightless and then knew no more.

 _As Restia unleashed a torrent of her own shadow to encompass Shirou and force him away, Restia knew that_ _ **destructionrapemurdurdeselation**_ _that she would not_ _ **hatredlossviolence**_ _make it. Her_ _ **Painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainhelpmepainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain**_ _last thoughts, while she was conscious, were of Shirou_ _ **shiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushiroushirou.**_

After that, Restia Ashdoll knew no more for a time,except for one all-encompassing drive.

 **~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Chapter~~~~~~~~~~~~**

 **A/N- A bit of a cliff hanger ending. My GOD this took a long time to crank out. I hope that you guys liked it, as the better part of my free time for the last several months went into this big reveal chapter and I wanted to make this chapter my best yet.**

 **I am going to be going back and rewriting what I have so far to make the story more cohesive and an overall better fic by adding content and addressing the problems that have been kicking at the back of my mind. After this, I am going to be hosting a poll on my profile to determine something of great importance…..the host of the Dojo! I find that I have been wanting to write a section where the intricacies of the universe can be broken down and explained, as well as a place to post stuff like stats for characters and Noble Phantasms.**

 **I just can't seem to make up my mind as I love all the characters so much, so let's do together! The scheduling for the section is going to be every five chapters, starting next ends on 08/20/2016, so be sure to go right away! IT'S FINALLY TIME FOR THE TIME SKIP! HUZZAH! I have been waiting in earnest to show you guys what I've got planned, so stay tuned. Until next time**

 **-Unlimited Blade Quirks**


	6. Notice

**Author Moment- Let's be blunt here, I have definitely not turned out the greatest of works ever. I originally came to the world of writing several months ago to see if I found it any fun and to try to improve my writing skills. To my surprise, I genuinely enjoyed the writing process and felt a sense of fulfillment when I published that first chapter. Since then, I have most definitely let the excitement go to my head.**

 **I will not be stopping the fic, as I have already said in the past, but there is an opportunity here that I will be taking. As some of the reviews have stated, this fic is largely a sham, and I do not feel right with myself producing that quality of content. All content creators want to see their works succeed, and I am no exception. But if my work is to the point that it makes people lose interest just because of the quality, then I have let myself, and especially you guys, down. An example of this is the plain fact that there are many, many** ** _short stories,_** **one of which I have written, that contain more crisp, clear characterizations than this fic does.**

 **I am going to proceed as planned and rewrite the chapters of the story that currently exist, but here comes the news that all messages like this always contain, and it sucks. Until I can rewrite what I have so far to a quality that I can feel amazed by, and that all of you can feel satisfied with, I will not be posting new chapters to the story.**

 **Not to say there will be no new content. As a part of the rewrite, I plan to rework the plot to feature more dynamic, characterized scenarios that also include new events that I hope will propel the narrative to new heights. I will also continue planning the story behind the scenes so that I am ready to continue where we left off when the rewrite is finished. The time skip provides me with the chance to leave the fic's 'Prologue' arc as I call it in a state of semi-completeness that will not affect the progression of the story in the long run.**

 **If you have any advice, please feel free to PM me about it, as I could use, and want, all the help I can get. The poll will continue as planned, and I will even begin writing the next chapter in a provisional, ready-to-demolish-and-edit sort of way. But I am going to place the fic on temporary hold until I can improve my skills as a writer to the point where the whole thing is** ** _not_** **garbage.**

I will probably post some one-shots during this coming time in order to get some additional experience, as well as provide at least a little content while I rewrite. These, of course, will be held to the new standard just as heavily as any new content. I will be applying myself to the new standard as well as I can to avoid any horrible work being posted, and I hope to do better for your sakes, as well as mine.

 **Until next time, hoping to become a reborn writer, Unlimited Blade Quirks**


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